Thread Details

The purpose of this thread

The purpose of this thread is to serve as a main index for all of the important and structured threads in the Drugstore/Grocery B&M Deals forum. Think of it as your one-stop-shopping thread where you can quickly get links to all of the information you need to save money at your local drugstore or grocery store!

Who maintains this thread?

You do! Everything indexed in this thread will be contained in the wiki posts below. If you see something here that needs updating, please edit the appropriate wiki. If you are not comfortable with editing the wikis, please post in this thread and ask for help and another user or a DS/GS forum moderator will be happy to help you.

Community Wiki

The times are changing, and we are going to try something new in this forum. We want YOU to write the rules! We have a set of site wide rules which governs everyone who has an account here at Slickdeals, but often our sub-forums require some additions that just don't pertain to the rest of the site. This is your opportunity to provide input on how you would like your favorite sub-forum to be run!

To start things off, I have three guidelines to offer in this endeavor:

The rules must be focused on improving the user experience in a friendly manner.

The rules should be easy to understand for new members and seasoned regulars alike.

Keep in mind that Slickdeals.net is not responsible for enforcing individual store policies, so the rules should not be geared toward doing so.

With that in mind, please feel free to post your thoughts in this thread and collate the rules you would like to be implemented here in the wiki. Once we're done, we'll turn this wiki into a regular post that can be easily referenced by all! Even so, we can always discuss making changes in this thread on an ongoing basis to meet your needs.

For sake of reference, here are the current rules which will continue to apply while we work together to create a new, simpler set of rules that will help foster a friendly environment for everyone.

Wiki's are vital tools for sharing information. The very purpose of their design is to be free for anyone to edit them. Users should never be chastised for sharing information in the wikis.

The only thing a thread starter has control over is their own post and the request for thread removal. All wikis, with the exception of the printable coupons thread in this forum, may be edited by anyone.

Why is the printables wiki an exception? Because it is being used as a database and has documented data loss. The good news is that we are working on a solution.

417 Comments

Could we have a standard color for the same type of Qs when doing a matchup? A color for insert, B color for printables, C color for hangtags, blinkies, tearpads, D color for store related Qs, etc? Reformating from one store to another is a PITA.

The previous rules defines a small set of threads where the wikis are only updated by a special team. Speaking on behalf of the three of us that update the Printable thread, this thread needs to be kept closed in this manner as to not cause another wiki crash or a loss of data.

If a wiki is confirmed to be off limits to regular users, it means you cannot edit the wiki and it must be done by a special team member. In these threads you are to post in the thread and ask for information to be added to the wiki. These are threads where the OP and special team members are very active in helping to keep the wiki organized and up to date.

Could we have a standard color for the same type of Qs when doing a matchup? A color for insert, B color for printables, C color for hangtags, blinkies, tearpads, D color for store related Qs, etc? Reformating from one store to another is a PITA.

This is not a bad idea. Though it would require a fair amount of work to go back and edit them all in all the threads, with enough people involved it could be done.

These coupon threads exist in multiple forums as well so that is something to consider.

With the wiki though, anyone can edit them if they were so inclined.

I do like the idea of a standard though.

Quote
from tn_native
:

What happened to slayers thread that he created for this purpose?

When I originally started the DS sub-forum SD was just rolling out the wiki feature, and I had a thread like this one but with all of the indices as individual posts that I (and some of the other mods) would update daily, sometimes much more often. I'm very minimalist when it comes to stickies, as I generally dislike them, and I despise a top-heavy forum full of stickies. That's why I created the index thread that contains links to all of the other pertinent threads.

When we brought slayers on, he and I at one time discussed switching over to a wiki format, but eventually decided against it for reasons long forgotten. Rules have changed over time, and the index became harder and harder to manage. Slayers preferred the individual stickies and managed the forum that way, and now that he is gone we're going back to my original index, but this time leveraging the power of the wikis which should make it easier on everyone.

I guess I meant that make it a STANDARD for everyone to DO their wikis with the same colors for the same TYPE of Qs. ie, we make the wikis, we color them the way each thread does it now, but it would be great to have a COMMON set of coloring so we wouldn't have to change from Red (inserts) to Red (ANY paper Q, to exclude printables). If you've never done matchups, then you probably don't know what a pain they can be. If I've done matchups for Listerine in the Kroger thread one week, it could be used again in the Publix thread, but the colors all have to change for each and every line. (before the new year, there were at least 15 different listerine Qs that were valid at one time, not including the printables, tear pads, etc).

I didn't know that there was an announcement that slayers left. I thought it was just cruel joke.

RE: stickies, that's why the DS thread doesn't look the same tonight as it has... The new Q users thread is missing for me.

I also forgot to add that the wikis in the thread slayers recently started had mostly bad links in it, some to long expired threads. I've updated most of the links in this thread and cleaned up the BB code quite a bit so it should be easier to maintain going forward.

If a wiki is confirmed to be off limits to regular users, it means you cannot edit the wiki and it must be done by a special team member. In these threads you are to post in the thread and ask for information to be added to the wiki. These are threads where the OP and special team members are very active in helping to keep the wiki organized and up to date.

You girls have put in a tremendous amount of work into those wikis, and I see no reason not to honor this agreement as long as the wikis continue to be maintained to such a high standard. I also think that the way you have made this point known in your wiki is perfectly reasonable.

If someone with demonstrated ability is interested in learning to help you keep up, I assume that the three of you would amicable to working with them? I am not referring to anyone specific here, just a general question.

I would love to see a "coupon usage rules" thread (or some designated place to host the Q usage rules, even if that is just a wiki here). Slayers gave us lots of great posts about what the rules are, but they are scattered all over the place and the newbies can't find 'em (and don't know to even look for them). I had asked him about consolidating all of them into one SD Coupon Usage thread at one point, but he wasn't keen on it...I got the feeling that there may have been a reason behind the denial, but am not really sure what it was.

We do have the Coupon Barcode Basics thread, but Slayers closed it a while back and while it is an important thread that definitely needs to stick around, it has some conflicting info in it. With the influx of new q shoppers (thanks TLC ), we have lots of folks trying coupons without knowing what they are doing, and making lots of mistakes...which reflects poorly on the rest of us. I'd love to have one place for all the rules as they pertain specifically to coupons and their usage (I'd even be happy to host it/put it together/assist with compiling/whatever).

You girls have put in a tremendous amount of work into those wikis, and I see no reason not to honor this agreement as long as the wikis continue to be maintained to such a high standard. I also think that the way you have made this point known in your wiki is perfectly reasonable.

If someone with demonstrated ability is interested in learning to help you keep up, I assume that the three of you would amicable to working with them? I am not referring to anyone specific here, just a general question.

Thanks, Raddish. We have kept the team to a small number as even with the three of us now and using ways of checking to see who is working in the wikis, we can still step on each other occasionally if we're not careful. But, yes, definitely, that's how we so quickly replaced sheysaves when she left us a couple months ago was we had a willing victim volunteer who offered to help us out and join our team. Tn_native jumped in and offered her assistance to us immediately and it has been working out well as our schedules all fall differently.

I would love to see a "coupon usage rules" thread (or some designated place to host the Q usage rules, even if that is just a wiki here). Slayers gave us lots of great posts about what the rules are, but they are scattered all over the place and the newbies can't find 'em (and don't know to even look for them). I had asked him about consolidating all of them into one SD Coupon Usage thread at one point, but he wasn't keen on it...I got the feeling that there may have been a reason behind the denial, but am not really sure what it was.

We do have the Coupon Barcode Basics thread, but Slayers closed it a while back and while it is an important thread that definitely needs to stick around, it has some conflicting info in it. With the influx of new q shoppers (thanks TLC ), we have lots of folks trying coupons without knowing what they are doing, and making lots of mistakes...which reflects poorly on the rest of us. I'd love to have one place for all the rules as they pertain specifically to coupons and their usage (I'd even be happy to host it/put it together/assist with compiling/whatever).

Thoughts on this? Anyone?

I DEFINITELY feel that there needs to be some sort of "monitoring" (if you will), or people will continually post about coupon misusage, abuse, fraud, or whatever you want to call it.

And when you have too many chiefs and not enough Indians .... oh, good lord!